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Lama Karma, the Spiritual Director of the Drukpa Mila Center, provides services for practicing Buddhists and other interested persons. The Center provides these services:
- Meditation Practice
- Special Devotion Practices
- Astrological Divinations
- Prayer Ceremonies (Pujas)
- Setting up a shrine
- Statue Filling
- Making of Tormas (Spiritual Cakes)
- Making of Tsa Tsa (Clay Stupas)
- Sacred Lama Dancing
- Tibetan Classes
- Dzonka (Bhutanese) Classes
- Ceremonies for New Ventures
- Guided trips to Bhutan with Lama Karma
Please See Below for a Description of Each Service:
Meditation Practice
At the Center, Lama Karma provides and guides meditation practices on a regular practice schedule. Lama Karma teaches participants of the center how to recite sacred texts devoted to a particular Buddhist Deity. As well, Lama Karma explains how to complete offerings for the particular meditation practice. Meditation practices done at the Center include: Chenrezig Meditation Practice, Green Tara Meditation Practice, Guru Rinpoche Meditation Practice, a short form of Medicine Buddha Practice, and Dakini Yeshe Tshogyel Meditation Practice. The two (2) main meditation practices of the Center are the Chenrezig Meditation Practice and Green Tara Meditation practice. These practices are done on a regular weekly basis. Participants can also acquire these texts and practice at home. Prostrations (bows at the beginning of a meditation practice) and mudras (offerings by specific hand gestures) are also explained and practiced with Lama Karma.
Lama Karma also provides simple meditation practices for people who are beginning a meditation practice in Buddhism. Lama Karma will give instructions so that the person can also practice at home.
Meditation practice with Lama Karma is posted in the “Calendar” section.
Special Devotional Practices
There are certain auspicious days that are recognized in Buddhism. Some of these days occur monthly on a regular basis according to the Tibetan Calendar. Auspicious days that occur monthly include: Guru Rinpoche day, Dakini Day, Medicine Buddha Day, 1000 Buddha Day and Buddha Sakyamuni Day. Other auspicious holy days occur on an annual basis and are celebrated with special ceremonies, prayer practices and meditations. Some special holy days that occur annually include: Buddha’s Birthday, Lhabab Duchen (Buddha bringing teachings from the Godly realms to the Earth/Human Realm) and Losar (Tibetan New Year).
Meditation and prayer practices are offered on a regular basis for the monthly auspicious days according to scheduled practice days. Special holy days that occur annually are also celebrated at the center and participants also conduct prayer practices and ritual practices with Lama Karma.
Prayer Ceremonies (Pujas)
Lama Karma at the Center does both group and individual prayer ceremonies or pujas. Prayer ceremonies or pujas are special prayers that are completed often with special offerings for a specific purpose. Some group prayer ceremonies are done to celebrate a special holy day. Group prayer ceremonies can be for a larger purpose such as healing from a natural disaster like the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Prayer ceremonies can also be done for individual needs including healing from obstacles such as illness or financial difficulties. Other individual ceremonies are done to invoke blessings for a new venture in life. Please contact the Center for details.
Sometimes a divination done by Lama Karma shows that a particular prayer ceremony will help with alleviating an obstacle in a person’s life or help to increase a favorable outcome for a specific event in a person’s life.
Setting Up a Shrine
Many people who practice meditation also have a shrine set up in their home to help support meditation practice. A shrine can be very simple or can be quite elaborate depending on the experience of the meditation practioner and the type of meditation practices being done. The shrine is really made up of meditational aids that help us to progress our meditation practice. A simple shrine may have a picture or statue of Buddha and 7 bowls of water for offering. More elaborate shrines can have an array of offerings, meditational yidams, thangkas, and/or tormas. Eventhough we place offerings on the shrine to the Enlightened activity, the Buddhist dieties are not asking or needing these offerings. It is for our benefit to offer outside of ourselves and for generation of merit that the offerings give to us. Shrines can be constructed in certain ways to benefit the meditation practioner. Lama Karma has experience in constructing shrines. If you are interested, please contact the Center.
Astrological Divinations
Although Lama Karma is not an astrologer, he has a background in forecasting divinations. Divinations help to give guidance to dealing with a particular obstacle or situation in one’s life. They also can help with guiding decisions such as buying a home or starting a business. Instruments used to complete a divination include a prayer practice, divination texts, a mala and/or dice. Lama Karma uses these tools to give him an understanding of the situation and if needed, a “remedy” which may help correct or alleviate the current occurrence. Lama Karma often will do the necessary remedies if they include particular prayer practices. Also the person who is having the divination done, will be counseled on what he/she can also do to help remedy the particular situation.
People can contact Lama Karma directly to set up a time to complete the divination. To contact Lama Karma about this, please go to the “Contact Us” link.
Statue Filling
The bottom of a Deity statue may be hollow and empty. According to Buddhist tradition and understanding, it is necessary to have a statue like this “filled” with rolled mantras and sometimes other sacred items such as jewelry and prayer flags. This blesses and “empowers” the statue. It also prevents the space inside the statue from being inhabited by negative energy. The statue is to be filled in a particular way and should be done by a trained Lama or advanced meditation practioner who has training. It takes awhile to fill the statue according to proper ways. After the statue is filled, it is then "consecrated" so that the contents inside become empowered. Statues that are filled also offer benefit to a person's shrine and shrine space. Please see the link "Statue Filling" under the "More About" link.
Lama Karma and the center provide this service for interested persons.
Making Tormas (Spiritual Cakes)
Tormas are an esoteric form that is meant to invoke the presence of a Diety during a specific ceremony or meditation practice. Tormas can be made of many different materials and can be temporary (offered outside to nature after completion of a ceremony) or permanent. Tormas can also be found on a meditation practitioner’s shrine for a specific Deity. The practitioner is completing meditation practices which help to further “empower” the torma.
Lama Karma can assemble tormas for interested meditation practitioners. Lama Karma speaks with the person to understand what practices are being done and which tormas are most appropriate to have made. For more information about tormas, see the link ‘Tormas” under the “More About” link.
Making of Tsa Tsa (Clay Stupas)
A Tsa Tsa is a clay representation of a stupa. The clay is placed into a mold of a stupa and when it is removed has the shape of a stupa (tsa tsa). There are different sizes of molds to make the tsa tsa. Tsa tsas are made for various reasons. Sometimes according to a divination it will be recommended for a person to make tsa tsas to help alleviate an obstacle or purify a negative situation occurring. Usually in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, tsa tsas are made according to a time in the astrological calendar to help bless and protect the life and life force of an individual or group of individuals. Making one tsa tsa is symbolic of constructing an actual stupa itself. The process of making the tsa tsa has great merit and power. Tsas are placed in a high area or mountain under spaces in rocks or in caves when completed. This has great benefit to help prevent any type of disasters in the area. Prayers done when the tsas are placed also benefit sentient beings and the world which they reside in.
Sacred Lama Dances (Chams)
Lama Karma was a dance master at the monastery he grew up in Bhutan. He has knowledge of many sacred dances and the music which accompanies them. Lama Dances are performed for specific Buddhist ceremonial days. They are also performed to clear obstacles from an area of land or to help protect an area from harm. Lama Dances also are a way for people to understand concepts of Buddhism as each Lama dance has a specific purpose and story.
Lama Karma has performed Lama Dancing in the US for many different occasions including for blessing a building and a new foundation, for purifying negativity in a city, to assist with protecting an area from harm and for the viewers to receive blessings to increase their fortune and good karma.
Tibetan Classes (Reading, Writing, Speaking)
Lama Karma has the ability to speak, read and write in the Tibetan language. Lama Karma has taught the Tibetan language since 1998 in the US. Classes range from Beginner to Advanced. Language skills are taught so that the Tibetan language can be understood for reading Buddhist texts or other Tibetan scripts. Classes are arranged by a “semester” usually lasting about 8 weeks and meet 2 times per week. Lama Karma also tutors individual students on an as needed basis.
Before teaching Tibetan to interested persons, Lama Karma speaks directly to each person to understand purposes and reasons for learning Tibetan. This is to help ensure that Lama Karma can meet the needs of the individual.
Dzonka (Bhutanese) Classes (Reading, Writing, Speaking)
Lama Karma’s native language is Dzonka (Bhutanese). Although this language can be complicated to learn, Lama Karma has taught several students in this language. Class schedules and individual tutoring are arranged similar to the Tibetan Classes and depend on interest. As with the Tibetan Classes, Lama Karma speaks to each person prior to starting the class to make sure that his teaching style fits with the prospective student.
Blessings for New Venture (Birth of Child, New Home, New Shrine Space in Home, Business)
In Buddhism, there are ceremonies that are completed when a person is having or starting a new venture in life. The ceremonies that are done are dependent on what type of new venture is occurring. The ceremonies are to clear the area or situation of negative influences or energy and to ask for the presence of benevolent and supportive energy to be present so that many blessings can help the new venture be successful. Offerings for the ceremony (i.e. incense, rice, milk, etc.) are put together by the persons receiving the ceremony and Lama Karma. Lama Karma has practiced many of these different types of ceremonies for many different types of occasions. The Center and Lama Karma offers these ceremonies to interested persons. By Bhutanese Buddhist tradition, persons receiving the ceremony offer a donated money gift to Lama Karma as an exchange for performing the ceremony. Please contact the Center if you have interest in learning more details.
Guided Trips to Bhutan with Lama Karma
Lama Karma leads trips to Bhutan and sometimes other areas such as Tibet, Nepal and India and Sikkim to interested Buddhist practitioners. The trips include visits to monasteries, meditation practice, and experiences of the Bhutanese culture. Trips are planned in April or October. Please contact the center if you have questions or interest. You can also visit: www.snowlion.com.bt for more information about traveling to Bhutan. This travel agency, Snow Lion Adventure Travels, is owned by Lama Karma's family. The agency provides and assists with all details of traveling to Bhutan with Lama Karma. Visits to Bhutan and surrounding areas is a very personalized experience with Lama Karma.
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